The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for the high speed printing of labels or decoration on containers and container-like articles. More particularly, it relates to a high speed container printing operation adapted for rectangular containers or containers with flat surfaces and for the multicolored printing or decoration of such containers and high printed container output levels.
Various apparatus has been used for some time for automatically printing labels on containers in a number of colors and more especially for printing cylindrical or oval containers which have not been characterized by having sharp corners. The apparatus of the present invention is useful not only for the high speed multicolored container printing but for handling containers such as box-like plastic containers and similar containers where the applied label or decoration extends around 90.degree. or relatively sharp corners.
For this purpose, feed means is provided for infeeding at least two lines of undecorated containers and for printing labels or decoration on the container side surfaces as well as for separately applying a label or decoration to a hinged container cover. The apparatus automatically feeds the dual lines of containers into the printing mechanism where the printing and fixing of the decoration or label is automatically performed on the container bodies and where the containers may be finally passed in a continuing automatic operation to means for positioning and printing hinged container covers.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to automatically print plastic and other containers with labels or decorations where the containers may have rectangular cross sections and flat angularly aligned surfaces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a high speed container printing method for generally rectangular containers and the like for printing relatively large containers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a container printing method and means for applying labels to container side and cover surfaces in a continuous automatic operation.
Other and further objects of the present invention will become apparent upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.